A Dance's Value
by Rosa Cotton
Summary: Following Sir Digory and Lady Polly's instructions, Mr. Hathaway keeps careful track of their son, Charles Woodcourt's, partners at his birthday (bride finding, the neighborhood indiscreetly whispers loudly) ball. Cinderella


Disclaimer: This story gives me no profit but fun. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: _Jane Austen for Dummies_ planted the seed for this.

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A Dance's Value

Cambridgeshire

Crevecoeur Park

8 August, 17—

Master Charles Woodcourt's Partners

**Miss Libby King**

_Lady Polly has been dropping hints for months in Master Woodcourt's ear about the suitableness of Miss King, coming from one of the richest families in the county and all. She must be secretly congratulating herself over her son opening the ball with her favorite young lady. _

**Miss Heywood**

**The Honorable Lucy Martin**

**Miss Jane Plummer**

_A sweet lady, yet her family's wealth were made in trade. May not be enough to gain Lady Polly's consideration for the position of daughter-in-law._

**Miss Ward**

**Miss Amy Gibson**

_Very kind of Master Woodcourt to ask her to dance despite her being viewed as an old maid now. Good form. _

**Miss Esther Bingley**

**Lady Caroline Kent**

_She is uncommonly handsome. Once was a close childhood friend of the young master. Ah! He just laughed at something she said – first time he has done so tonight. Pity she does not have a large dowry to offer along with her connections. _

**Miss Susan Kent**

**Miss Wendy Kent**

**Miss Harriet Kent **

_Quite shocking, the youngest Miss Kent being out while her eldest sister is unmarried! Young Woodcourt's grandmother, the Dowager Countess Osborne, looks most disapproving of __**that**__ possible match._

**Miss Molly Hale**

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

_Just arrived at the ball. Handsome, well bred, dressed in the latest fashion, graceful dancer. Have never seen her before. Impatiently, unsuccessfully inquiring after her name._

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

_Master Charles Woodcourt is dancing __**again**__ with the unknown lady! And they have only just met! (The footman at the door overheard him ask the lady her name when he greeted her; unfortunately the footman did not catch the answer.) Sir Digory and Lady Polly are in all astonishment. _

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

_Master Woodcourt and his partner both appear to be lost in a world of their own._

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

_This is turning into a scandal. Never have I seen anything like it. Master Woodcourt refuses to give up his partner, rebuking the few daring young gentlemen who seek her hand. He insults his guests by not offering to dance with any of the other ladies. He has forgotten himself, his duties as host, and his responsibilities to his family. _

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

**Mysterious Gentlewoman**

_They are engaged, that is the only possible explanation for all of this. Yet they are strangers. Whispers are moving through the company about a secret engagement. Absolute nonsense, of course! However, my master is terribly pale, my mistress is beside herself, and the Dowager Countess Osborne is being carried from the room half fainting, murmuring about the family being disgraced, laughed at, no longer viewed with respect after tonight's affair. _

**Mysterious Gentlewo—**

_Good gracious! The young lady just ran out of the room, totally disrupting the set by crashing into dancers as she fled. She offered no word of apology or explanation or anything. One moment she was dancing hand in hand with Master Woodcourt, the next she was racing across the floor and out the doors like hunters was at her heels while the clock chimed. Very strange. Undoubtedly very rude behavior – arriving late, and then leaving in the middle of the dance without taking proper leave. Young master stood for a moment as one awakening from a dream, then he chased after her, shouting frantically for her to come back. _

_With the ball so disrupted, no one quite knows what to do, whether to continue playing and dancing or not. Even Sir Digory and Lady Polly look to be at a loss about what is going on. Not that I blame them, their son has never acted in such a manner before in his life._

_And there is Master Charles Woodcourt returning finally, with a dancing shoe pressed to his chest. He claims it belongs to his partner, that he needs to find her again, he desires to marry her. Seeing him look so love forlorn after strongly resisting the notion of marriage (tonight's ball was his mother and grandmother's idea, not his) he reminds me of when I was his age. _

_Yet now is not the time for sentimentality. Young master's behavior tonight may be interpreted as being less than gentleman like. Insulting his guests by ignoring them, keeping the same partner for almost half the night, and running out of his own ball…yes the family has a large scandal on its hands. Marrying him to the girl will be the fastest way for all this to blow over. Alas, though it will not be easy for the family to regain their old popularity and respect. This event will be remembered for many years. Sadly it has been generations since there was such excitement and goings on in the neighborhood. _

_Ah, the follies of young love!_

THE END


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